Well, the time is now. Send in a postcard from Sept. 1-23 to request your compost (you can request both Zoo Doo and Bedspread, but separate postcards are required and only one postcard per person is eligible for each drawing). Entry cards will be selected randomly for as many entrants possible. “Dr. Doo” will contact the lucky drawn entries only.

August 31st, 2011 by master

Although it first opened in May, the ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, which will be followed by a brief program, reception and building tours.

The new enployment center, which provies aid to more than 400 North Seattle residents a day and features classrooms, public computers as well as copiers, fax machine and phones available to those searching for work, also offers: [Read more →]

He also told us the pizzeria would be open in time for Labor Day, and it looks like that deadline will be met. From his email:

A couple Flying Squirrel FAQ’s….

Yep…we’re kid friendly. We don’t have a play area, nor encourage
running around, but we’re a family place!
Yep…we’ll have gluten-free options.
Nope…we don’t sell pizza by the slice.
Yep…we have lots of local beers and wines.
Nope…we don’t sell hard alcohol.
Nope…we don’t deliver.
Yep…we do takeout and love to see the neighborhood folks when they
pick up their pizzas.
Yep…we have amazing, salads, pizzas, appetizers, and sell Molly Moon
ice cream pints to go (also scoops in-house)

And a word of warning: In addition to fighting the Maple Leaf crowds that have been waiting for Flying Squirrel to open, you might have to fight Flying Squirrel’s loyal Seward Park fans for the first couple of weeks while that location is undergoing an extensive renovation. From Flying Squirrel’s Facebook page:

ATTN SEWARD PARK! Flying Squirrel Pizza in Seward is about to undergo a complete kitchen renovation. Due to this, we will unfortunately be closed starting tomorrow, Monday Aug. 29th – Sept. 15th. Sorry! However, we’re opening our Maple Leaf location on September 1st! So if you need a Squirrel fix, head on up and say hi to us in Maple Leaf.

August 29th, 2011 by Mike

We know it’s late summer, and we know the weather’s been good for weeks – but this is a bit much. Or maybe a lot much.

Linda emails:

Greetings! My husband and I are organic urban farmers/gardeners in Maple Leaf.

See attached photo of this amazingly tall sunflower in our yard! Is this what happens to plants when the sun finally comes out in Seattle???!!! My husband is 5′ 8″ for reference.

She and Walter didn’t even plant this monster – it volunteered and grew to a mere 5 feet before they left in early July for a month in Europe.

“When we returned on August 6 the height shocked us. Since then it’s just gotten taller and taller! We estimate it’s about 14 feet tall now. The flowers are finally opening; starting at the top but it’s loaded with buds up and down.”

In urban wildlife news, Linda also reports that a sharp-shinned hawk visiting her 5,000-square-foot yard has been trying for song birds. “And finally, had a Lourquins Admiral butterfly visit our veggie garden this past week too!”

August 29th, 2011 by master

The owner of Maple Leaf’s COA Mexican Eatery & Tequileria, 7919 Roosevelt Way N.E., has been making the news in recent days over a controversy in Mount Vernon that has resulted in community members calling their mayor racist.

In addition to recently opening COA, owner Edgar Carreon is also in the process of opening a similar restaurant with his brother Carlos in Mount Vernon called Calle Tacos Tequila — a process that now is on hold after Mayor Bud Norris asked the state to halt the liquor license.

Norris, who openly discusses wanting to make English the official language of Mount Vernon, made a similar request when another Hispanic restuarant sought a liquor license for the same location just a year ago.

Budget cuts have hit North Helpline hard. In a letter to donors this month, Amy Besunder, executive director, notes:

Our client base has nearly doubled over the course of the last two years. Every week we see new faces and every week we monitor the decline in our food stocks. We have walked out to a nearly empty warehouse following food distribution and wondered how we will serve our clients the following week.

August 27th, 2011 by Mike

According to Dave Workman, who writes for the Seattle Gun Rights Examiner, a group of open-carry gun activists is planning to visit Green Lake Park on Saturday afternoon around noon, and perhaps on Sunday as well (August 28 and 29, 2011).

The visit is reportedly being planned in the wake of a controversial police response to a “person with a gun” dispatch to the park last Sunday.

Alarmed by an encounter involving a longtime open carry activist and Seattle police at Green Lake last weekend, some open carry activists are planning to visit Green Lake Saturday around noon, and others tell this column they may walk around Green Lake on Sunday.

Why? After a week of discussion on the Open Carry forum, one might think this controversy had run its course and that it is time to move on. It’s caused a good discussion on the Defensive Carry forum.